About ten years ago Alan told me to make the move from horses to Hollywood but I was always tied down by the dopey horse industry in one way or another. Next thing you know, Alan is a big shot Hollywood guy and a few years later, by some strange coincidence, we're both writing in the same capacity for The Canadian Sportsman magazine. Alan really praised a sad/happy story I wrote about my old cat Meatball, so I finally followed his advice. Now he's gone and so is a lot of my enthusiasm. I'm sure I'll get it back but Alan was a great friend and he taught me a lot.